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Wednesday, September 27, 2006

The writer of Catch A Falling Star, Paul Vance, has died in his Florida home.

Born Paul Van Valkenburgh, Vance's most famous work - he was also responsible for Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini - was written with partner Lee Pockriss. Vance boasted that his hits took just 25 minutes to write. Maybe so, but it took him even less time to sign away the rights; he never made any money from the works - although if anyone would want to profit from Timmy Mallett and Andrew Lloyd Webber's cover of Polka Dot Bikini is debatable.

Vance also worked as a painting contractor and served in Korea; he was 68.

4 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Funnier than that, the bloke who died was someone of the same name, who pretended he'd written a ton of songs and blamed his lack of wealth on selling the rights years ago. Even to his wife, who's now even more upset than she was due to her husband lying to her all these years. The real Paul Vance is a millionaire, very much alive, and feeling the fury of the widow at having exposed her dead husband as a charlatan. - E